Qatar saw its population decline by over 40,000 people in June from May, after its population grew for the first five months of 2009, official Qatari sources reported.

As of June 30, Qatar’s population reached 1.61 million people, against 1.65 million in May, the Qatar Statistics Authority reported.

Qatar’s population grew 6.5 percent to 1.65 million in the first five months of 2009 from 1.55 million in December 2008. Between 2004 and 2008, its population grew at a rate of 16.1 percent, though the native population fell from 3.9 percent to 3.4 percent in the same period. This pushed some to call for an increase in the native population.

Some 800,000 non-citizens currently reside in Qatar, primarily from South and South East Asia and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts.

The 2009 Human Development Report (HDR) released by the General Secretariat for Development Planning, has since warned against population growth. “Qatar, with low rainfall, is water resource-poor. Water resources are under significant stress for many reasons, especially as a result of the country’s rapid development and exceptionally high population growth,” the report noted.